I am Gilgamesh, the King of Heroes.

That's true.

Kusanagi took out the newspaper he had picked up from the door this morning, and narrowed his eyes as he looked at a certain news item.

"Murder...criminal...? The victim had no wounds...so poisoning could also leave no wounds." Kusanagi chuckled, folded the newspaper, and put it in his bag.

“Um… Kusanagi-kun—” a voice rang out.

That was a black-haired boy.

He was a close friend of Kusanagi.

"Kurino?" Kusanagi asked, somewhat puzzled. "What's wrong?"

Laiye Xun gritted his teeth, "Let's chat on the rooftop after lunch break..."

Kusanagi was a little puzzled, but he nodded nonetheless. "Okay."

Chapter 340 A Cruel War That Cannot Be Taken Back Once a Step Is Taken

At noon.

"You're here, Kurino." Kusanagi sat on the rooftop, holding a hamburger in one hand and a drink in the other, eating and drinking at the same time, and nodding to Kurino Tatsumi.

"..." Tatsumi Kurino stared at Kusanagi Gakuen, "Kusanagi, you participated in the Holy Grail War, didn't you?"

Kusanagi paused in his movements.

“You’re a Master too—you must be Berserker’s Master.” Kusanagi quickly recovered and said, “Last night I was almost killed by that monster. If Saber hadn’t arrived in time, I probably would have died.”

"..." Kurino Tatsumi said, "Berserker also left the stage last night, right..."

"Well, this departure is a good thing for you." Kusanagi took a sip of his drink and stuffed the last bite of his hamburger into his mouth.

"Yes, that's a good thing."

"Don't you want to stop the Holy Grail War?! Stop this absurd war!" Tatsumi Kurino shouted.

“…” Kusanagi paused, then said, “The Holy Grail War… is a road with almost no end in sight.”

He lifted the lid off the drink glass and poured the beverage—which, in Tatsumi Kurino's eyes, was orange juice—along with the ice cubes into his mouth.

"That path, once taken, cannot be turned back—the Holy Grail War is just that cruel."

……

Operations related to the Holy Grail War.

The so-called Holy Grail War was undoubtedly a magical ritual centered around the Lesser Grail and Greater Grail brought by the Holy Church.

The Magic Association responded to the church's "offering" in the form of a magic association.

However, the Holy Grail War was never conducted under the operation of the Church.

Although the church may send overseers, they are still overseers. Remember, they are different from operators.

If the Holy Grail War were to occur a second or third time, perhaps—

The Holy Church and the Mage's Association will propose an agreement to review who should be in charge of operating the Holy Grail War, but at least for the first time in history, there is no clear operator in this Holy Grail War held in Tokyo.

Seven men and seven riders slaughtered each other.

They are vying for the Holy Grail.

That is the true nature of the Holy Grail War.

Churches and associations are essentially just assistants to this magical ritual.

While secrecy and mystery are absolute "established principles" for magicians, the subtle rules governing these principles were not established in this Holy Grail War.

That is to say—

They fought and killed each other, until only one man and one horse remained.

The Holy Grail War is something no one can stop.

……

"But……!"

"No buts." The boy crumpled the paper cup. "Come on, don't go out at night lately."

“There could be war breaking out everywhere at night… You’d better be careful to avoid any casualties.” After saying that, Kusanagi stuffed the hamburger wrapper into the paper cup, preparing to throw it away. “Especially be careful of unclean things.”

……

"This well-intentioned reminder doesn't seem like you from last night, Kusanagi Boy."

A somewhat deep voice rang out.

"What are you doing here, you idiot reporter?" Kusanagi asked, stopping in his tracks without even looking in that direction.

“…Something happened last night.” Sean lit a cigarette. “There’s a ninth person, the ninth Servant—if I’m not mistaken, you and I were both unwittingly drawn into the Holy Grail War.”

"Why do you say that?"

“Saber and Assassin… our two Servants have clearly manifested in this world with some kind of purpose.”

Sean took a deep drag on his cigarette. "Beast, the beast of original sin, a dangerous thing that could lead to the extinction of humanity."

He slowly walked towards Kusanagi and handed him a stack of documents. "These are documents about a certain paranormal case. There are seals on them. Take a look for yourself."

After saying that, he quickly jumped out of the window and left.

"..." Kusanagi covered his face, and a "thud" came from below.

"Aaaaaah—!" came Sean's screams of pain from below.

...Damn it, this is the fifth floor!

Kusanagi began to wonder if he had lost his mind by tacitly approving Gillespie's alliance yesterday.

……

Death Mary at 11 PM.

The majority of adult male deaths are due to unexplained and mysterious causes.

The victim and the girl in white entered the hotel, died the next morning, and the same words were always written in lipstick on the mirror in the room.

“…Soul Devouring…” Kusanagi muttered these words.

He slowly folded the documents in his hand and stuffed them into his backpack.

I'll take this back and show it to Saber.

It might be an unclaimed Servant, and according to that idiot reporter, the other party is very likely an Assassin.

Hmm... I'll leave this to another guy who calls himself Assassin.

In truth, Kusanagi had serious doubts about whether the one Sean summoned was truly an Assassin.

Or rather, that one looks more like Saber!

In an instant, Kusanagi banished all his jumbled thoughts—it's better not to think about these things.

However, this one of theirs doesn't really look like Saber—he looks more like Archer or Caster.

"Hoo..." Kusanagi looked ahead.

Now we should focus on our studies.

……

When school ended in the evening, Kusanagi deliberately chose to take the main road, unlike usual.

He usually takes shortcuts through alleys—but now that's become very dangerous.

After all, one can't always be so lucky to be rescued—

Therefore, it is necessary to be extremely cautious.

However, sometimes things don't go as planned.

Downstairs in his building, Kusanagi saw once again the same fairy-like girl with bewitching beauty who had appeared in his room that morning.

The folding knife hidden in his sleeve had already slipped into his hand, and Kusanagi's eyes turned ice blue.

Saber is up there.

So all you need to do is shout it out, right?

Kusanagi tried to contact Gilles quickly using Command Seals, but the next moment, a pair of hands covered his eyes—

when--!

Wait—this stinging sensation! It's poison!

Immediately afterwards, Kusanagi heard the sound of a terrifying explosion.

The shockwave from the explosion came from behind.

Kusanagi opened his eyes and saw something peculiar—the "death" of something else—flowing within his body.

He swiftly swung his folding knife and cut the threads.

That was a death caused by "poison".

“As expected, Kusanagi-kun is quite special—especially those eyes that seem to see through death.” Sajō Aika smiled as she looked at Kusanagi.

Kusanagi ignored him and looked behind him instead.

Jill stood behind him, facing a young girl—

The girl was dressed rather lightly for the season, standing there in a white, body-hugging dress.

“Sajyou Aika—” Gil’s crimson eyes flashed with a cold light, “Do you really want to die that badly?”

Chapter 341 Hand over the head!

“? ? ～” Sajō Aika just hummed an unknown song, paying no attention to Gil at all.

That's outrageous...

A cold glint unconsciously flashed in Jill's eyes.